From the heart

Marc Bendavid is a 43-year-old Toronto-born actor, seen in Reacher, Murdoch Mysteries and more, who has written his first book, called The Sapling (metaphoric for “young man”). The book is billed as a novel and its main character Marc tells the story in the first person — a signal the book is autobiographical. The Sapling presents very few scenes, instead taking the form of a monologue addressed to a woman named Klara, telling her what it has been like to know her.

On the opening page of Marc’s narrative (which follows a brief prologue from Klara), we learn Klara has died. This is Marc’s motive for reflecting on all the years of their friendship. Once his school years ended, he didn’t see her very often, but she stands out in his mind as his favourite person.

Living in Toronto with his parents and two sisters, after Grade 5 Marc transferred to an arts-based school three blocks east of Yonge Street. There were five teachers — one each for dance, vocal music, band, drama and art. Klara Bloem was the art teacher, had a South African accent, was vivacious and funny and generally regarded as cool. She was 43 and Mark 11 — and the pages documenting their friendship in his school years are the best in the book.

The format of The Sapling differs from many novels. There are no indented paragraphs, likely meant by Marc to best reflect his musings, intended for Klara as if she were still alive to hear or read them. Blocks of text vary in length and are separated by plenty of white space.

In Grade 7, Marc got into the habit of phoning Klara, and soon learned how intimate a telephone conversation could be. He accumulated 900 minutes of phone calls in a single month.

That winter, she invited Marc to her home, and his mother drove him there. He met Klara’s daughter, Eva, her two sons, Hugo and Theo, and her husband, Anton. Marc was totally fascinated by the interior of her house.

In the summer before Grade 8, Marc went to Europe to visit with his mother’s family, and wrote to Klara from there. By then, his father and mother had split up, but nothing was as important to him as his friendship with Klara. One day, in her car, they drove to the house he’d grown up in, and to the forest he’d played in as a kid. He gradually began to share her liking for flowers.

What did his mother think of their friendship? In his monologue to Klara, he writes, “She liked you, I know that. And she trusted you — or she trusted me, mostly, and by extension you. By this point she’d accepted that I was going my own way, that in more ways than one my route through life wouldn’t quite resemble other boys’. Your name in my mouth, in my plans, never seemed to trouble her in any way.”

At the time Marc was beginning high school, Klara was opening a new studio. Over the next few years, he wouldn’t see her or communicate much with her, but before settling into school, he visited her studio.

Klara had a huge new sink, and told him she often bathed in it. This caused Marc to realize, for the first time, that under the jackets, sweaters, blazers and jewelry she wore, Klara had a woman’s naked body. Some readers may find it difficult to accept, but Marc emphasizes his relationship with her was exceptional, with little or no physical contact.

A line from one of Klara’s early letters sticks with him: “Our friendship is chimerical.” His dictionary told him that chimerical meant “hoped for but illusory or impossible to achieve.”

Does Bendavid succeed in convincing the reader of how special the Marc/Klara relationship was? He comes close.

What is remarkable about The Sapling are the many ways Marc shows how attracted he was to Klara, even after she introduced him to her second husband, Gerry.

Dave Williamson is the Winnipeg author of six novels, a collection of short stories, a memoir, a history of Red River College, and a stage play called Anniversary, co-written with Carol Shields.